EXPLORATION TO THE PEACE RIVER 109 



of Hudson's Hope as I found it on the 22nd of July, 1875: "I 

 have been extremely surprised at the rankness of the vegetation 

 around here, although there is very little rain at this season and 

 has been little all spring. Wild peas and vetches grow to an 

 amazing height in the poplar woods, and form almost impenetrable 

 thickets in places. Vetches, roses, willow-herb and grasses of the 

 genera Poa, Triticum and Bromus fill the woods and cover the 

 burnt ground, and surprise Canadians by their rankness and 

 almost tropical luxuriance. Charlette, who is in charge of this 

 post, has two small gardens, in which he has growing, potatoes, 

 onions, turnips, beets, carrots, cabbage, and various other vege- 

 tables. Yesterday, we had new potatoes for dinner, of a very fair 

 size, which were planted on April 28th. Numbers of the onions 

 were one and a half inches across, raised from seed imported from 

 England and sown about the first of May. Growth is extremely 

 rapid, owing partly to the length of day and cloudless skies sup- 

 plemented by heavy dews, and possibly, also, in part, to the great 

 range of temperature during the twenty-four hours, from about 

 45° at sunrise to 80° Fahr., at noon. Sometimes the range is 

 even more, but the above may be taken as the average. The 

 rankness of the vegetation on the west shore of Lake Superior 

 has frequently been alluded to, and may be caused by the some- 

 what similar great range in the temperature there." 



For the next few days, I employed myself around Hudson's 

 Hope examining the flora of the country. The others were busy 

 during this time in making a raft on which we were to float down 

 to St. John's. During the afternoon of the 25th, and the forenoon 

 of the 26th of July, we floated down the river on our raft, and, 

 although we had ample time to admire the magnificent scenery, 

 there was no opportunity to botanize. 



"At St. John's, a few minutes' observation tended to show 

 that this point was much warmer than Hudson's Hope, that the 

 soil was richer, and that the vegetation was in a far more advanced 

 state. Raspberries and service-berries were fully ripe and in 

 great abundance. Potatoes, oats, barley and many varieties of 

 vegetables were in a very flourishing state in "Nigger Dan's" 

 garden. The oats stood fully five feet high, and the barley had 



